Phantom Planet are an American rock band, once featuring the actor Jason Schwartzman on drums, who are forever tied to one anthemic song through television. "California", released in 2002, is a soaring, hand-clapping indie-rock singalong, and it became famous as the theme to the hit teen drama The O.C., introducing it to millions and turning it into a generational touchstone.
The band had a respectable run of albums and a dedicated following, but nothing else came close to the reach of that one TV-boosted anthem.
On streaming, "California" sits near 171 million plays, and its other top entries are alternate versions of the same song. Their next distinct track trails far behind. That sends the ratio above 18, far past our 5.0 line.
By our measure Phantom Planet are a certified one-hit wonder. Theirs is a classic story of a song lifted by the screen: a heartfelt indie anthem that might have stayed a cult favourite, fused instead with a wildly popular show until the two became inseparable, then left standing far ahead of everything else the band recorded as the series passed into nostalgia.